Men’s Health Community Fund: DHSC Funding

This fund is designed for VCSE organisations that are already doing meaningful work with men and who want to strengthen, develop and share learning about what makes that work effective.

The Department of Health and Social Care are particularly looking for organisations with strong community trust, lived-experience-informed approaches and existing reach into communities of men and boys who may not see services as relevant, trusted or accessible, or who are at an early stage of recognising their own health needs.

This opportunity would be particularly relevant for organisations that:  

• have established trusted relationships and meaningful connections with specific communities of men and are embedded within those communities
• have specific expertise in designing and delivering work for men, rather than general community provision
• use insight, evidence, practitioner knowledge and lived experience to shape and improve their work, including learning from previous delivery and engagement with the communities they serve  
• have a strong understanding of the wider inequalities affecting men’s health and wellbeing, including the role of poverty, exclusion, discrimination and gender norms in shaping health outcomes
• are open to learning, collaboration and reflective practice, including working alongside researchers, evaluators and peer organisations to strengthen understanding of what works and why in the sector.  

The DHSC funding envelope supports programmes for two groups:

• Men aged 35–59 who are unemployed, economically inactive or facing economic precarity.
• Older men (60+) experiencing key life transitions (eg, retirement, bereavement, relationship breakdown, caring responsibilities etc.)